PLOT: Buck aids a desperate woman (Devon Ericson) at a space station trying to escape Dorian authorities. It turns out she's charged with the murder and has been sentenced to death. When the Searcher is incapacitated by a larger Dorian ship and the entire crew's lives are threatened, Buck & the others grapple with returning the woman to certain death or everyone needlessly dying on the Searcher.
COMMENTARY: This was the last episode of the strike-abbreviated 2nd season (11 episodes with the first two being double episodes). It was also, sadly, the last installment of the series. Beyond this, "The Dorian Secret" is memorable for a couple reasons:
The serious story creates quality suspense with the moral conundrum of whether or not to release the woman to the Dorian authorities wherein she'll be executed or refuse and everyone on the Searcher dies. Buck, Wilma & Hawk take the second position and shame the passengers who take the first, but the first position is the most logical course of action. After all, why should everyone on the Searcher die for no reason? Why not let the officials of the woman's home-world decide her fate in their court system, especially considering no one on the Searcher even knows if she's innocent, despite her seeming sincerity? Lastly, the Dorians seem pretty rigid and dictatorial, so it's seriously unlikely that Buck would be able to convince the Dorian authorities to reevaluate the case. In other words, there was every reason to believe that the woman was doomed to death, so why should EVERYONE on the Searcher unnecessarily die when only she was required to die by Dorian law? Keep in mind that it wasn't a situation where someone could die in her place à la agape (self-sacrificial) love. In light of these obvious factors, the moral condescension of Buck, Wilma & Hawk toward the passengers is unconvincing.
There's a female passenger on the Searcher who sits in the front row, the one with the pink-ish outfit, who's reminiscent of the myriad guest space babes of the 1st season. While her part doesn't contain dialogue she's prominently featured in the periphery. The woman is notable because she's only one of three guest space babes in the 2nd season (11 episodes), the other two being and BarBara Luna from "Time of the Hawk" & a brief part in "The Guardians" and Amanda Wyss in "The Crystals." Anne E. Curry in "The Satyr" COULD have qualified, but she was made out to be a plain Jane widow/mother. And Devon Ericson as Asteria in this episode is decidedly pedestrian, even though Buck keeps insisting that she's one of the most beautiful women he's ever seen. Why sure! (No offense to Devon).